Mandatory Tamazight Classes In Netherlands Public Schools

Netherlands (AWN) | Dutch schools are to be required to provide a regular course in Tamazight (Tarifit) spoken in the Moroccan Rif.

The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has finally bowed to political pressure and agreed to the move. Primary and secondary schools will from now on have to devote mandatory classes to Teach Tamazight for young students.

Parents say, ” Tamazight in very important [….], we do speak tamazight with our children at home, but we have to find a way to teach them the language so they can continue speaking it [….] if they (our children) continue speaking half dutch half tamazight, the future generation will more likely lose their mother tongue.”

For most people in the Netherlands, learning foreign languages is usually restricted to two or three European languages, typically English, French, or German. Since these languages are taught in schools and are spoken in neighboring countries, Dutch people frequently come into contact with native speakers of these languages. However, the arrival of ethnic minorities has made the Dutch aware of the existence of different languages in their midst. Compared to English, French, or German, languages such as Turkish, Tamazight, and Vietnamese not only remain a mystery, but also represent different and exotic linguistic challenges to the Dutch.